


Resurgetur ex Favilla

by Tulak_Hord



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, And learns why that was a horrible idea, Duke Kenobi of Mandalore, Emperor Tyranus and his safe and secure society, Gen, Luke Skywalker Needs A Hug, Mandalorian Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), This is why you can't just kill Palpatine, Time-traveller Luke kills Palpatine, When Time Travel goes horribly wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27179041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tulak_Hord/pseuds/Tulak_Hord
Summary: "With all the rest, there fumed an eternal question. A simple question, truth be told, but one to which none could know the answer save the perpetrator behind the melancholy- why?Why did Luke Skywalker do it?"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Believing he can liberate a Galaxy from grief, the time-travelling Jedi Master Luke Skywalker kills Darth Sidious. The consequences are worse than he could possibly imagine.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 21
Kudos: 80





	Resurgetur ex Favilla

**Resurgetur Ex Favilla**

It was one thing to visit a place of memory, and yet another to find oneself at a place of death. When juxtaposed, such memory brought only eternal melancholy.

Melancholy, in which as Obi-Wan suspected, he was doomed to drown in eventually.

Qui-Gon, his beloved master, had died here- and so had the Republic.

As ever, his steps were deliberate, measured. Memory was not entirely a thing of sadness, as the former Jedi Master well knew. His marriage to his beloved Satine and their duty to look after their people, their _vode, ade_ and _ad’ike_ stood foremost, but as Obi-Wan mused, there was little else.

With all the rest, there fumed an eternal question. A simple question, truth be told, but one to which none could know the answer save the perpetrator behind the melancholy- _why?_

_Why did Luke Skywalker do it?_

Sheev Palpatine may have been proved to be the Dark Lord of the Sith, but was his defeat and death truly worth the sacrifice of the Galaxy’s liberty?

He was draped in one of the shawls he had found on his temporary exile on Tatooine, where he had hid from the enforcers of Emperor Tyranus before Satine, by sheer force of will, had found him and taken him to Mandalore.

He thought that the recognition of familiar culture from their homeworld would set the Skywalker family somewhat at ease- and if not, it was warm and comforting. That was more than Obi-Wan could sense in most things in these dark days.

The Regent of Naboo, Quarsh Panaka, happened to be a fair ruler, an admirer of Emperor Tyranus’ ruthless order though he was. Obi-Wan was glad that the man had been kind enough to continue to aid the once-Senator Amidala, no matter what her lover and his… _son…_ had wreaked upon the Galaxy. He had been welcomed to the Palace as ‘Master Kenobi’, and shown the way to the hidden retreat near Varykino where the Skywalkers abode.

The rain was soft upon his cloak as he walked up to the hidden and shadowed door, exerting a slight thrust of power in the Force to ring that odd chime that heralded his entrance.

Perhaps now was hardly a good time to walk down memory lane, but he could not help but recall the wonder he had felt when Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had emerged suddenly out of what seemed thin air, with a wealth of knowledge that rivalled Grand Master Yoda’s and a wealth of power that perhaps surpassed his.

To think that one of the legendary and infamous Master’s artefacts was reduced to the role of a doorbell- why, he did not feel pity, nor a sense of vindication. It was merely- sadness. Yet another expression of melancholy at the sight of lost grandeur.

The door was thrown open, and in front stood a tall man, above six feet, with a scowl fixed to his expression. Near-Godlike power crackled in his veins, though one would not know it- but Obi-Wan had felt his presence before.

It was as an eternal supernova, a burst of powerful energy that encompassed and enveloped all, burning what it touched but healing what it loved, and utterly beautiful from afar.

 _‘My, how you’ve grown’_ he thought once, before shaking his head; he had hardly known him after the Clone Wars. This man was most definitely not the nine-year old boy he remembered.

“Why are you here?” he asked immediately, raking his eyes over him with suspicion. The Duke of Mandalore might have otherwise considered it _uncivilised-_ but to this family, which had suffered the most of all, he could only offer concessions and condolences.

“I’m here to speak with Luke.” he said carefully, not saying ‘Master Skywalker’ to sound more like a friend- but at the mention of ‘Skywalker’, Anakin’s lip curled.

 _“You’re not welcome.”_ he said with a sneer, looking very much as if he wanted to shut the door in his face. Obi-Wan sighed. Ever since Anakin had come to know that Luke was _his_ son, having come somehow form the future, he had grown increasingly protective of him- and for good reason, at that. The hatred Emperor Tyranus harboured for the Skywalkers was second to none.

He supposed he should have expected nothing less.

“The Jedi are as good as dead. I’ve only come to seek the guidance of a friend.” he said slowly, mouthing the very words he never wished to. The man in front of him softened. Anakin took another look at him, nearly giving in to pity, but shook his head.

“There’s already too much weight on his conscience. I can’t afford more. I’m sorry, Master Kenobi…”

 _“Ben?”_ came the soft voice from inside, nigh-imperceptible. A gloved hand clasped Anakin’s shoulder, the young man’s expression hardening again.

It seemed as if a pulsar had erupted into being in the Force.

Where Anakin Skywalker was a Supernova, Luke was a shining star- more permanent, and more constant in his radiance. They were equal in power- while Luke may not have been as spectacular to behold as Anakin, his was the more comforting presence, with undercurrents of subtle strength that marked him as the more dangerous of the two. And unlike Anakin, he had full mastery of his strength.

“You weren’t to come out. If it was Ventress or Jorus C’baoth or another of Dooku’s lackeys-“

“Let him in, father.” said Master Luke, more firmly. Anakin looked at his son and it seemed as he wished to argue, but Luke was calm as ever. There was a faint hint of steel in his eyes, and yet when he looked at Obi-Wan, the former Jedi could only see compassion. Compassion, and regret.

There was a long pause, and Anakin relented.

“If I sense one thing down our bond…” he rasped as a final threat, before disappearing into the estate. He had most likely gone to visit Padmé, his wife- poor, dear Padmé, whose connection to Palpatine as his protégée had been used by Emperor Tyranus to vilify her name and declare a manhunt for the Skywalkers.

She must have had unimaginable strength to bear the tragedies she had borne- and even at the end, blinded by a blast of force lightning from ‘Grand Master’ C’baoth himself, she had withstood it and been strong for her family. Obi-Wan had only the highest respect for her.

“Is… is Senator Amidala…”

Luke chuckled softly. “There’s no need for that, Ben. We don’t begrudge you or the Jedi anything- if father would allow you to see her, she’d insist on being called ‘Padmé’, I’m sure. If anything, it’s I who deserves all the blame.”

Obi-Wan nodded and entered briskly. He would have liked to reassure Luke, to forgive him… but how could he? He wasn’t a Jedi anymore, and quite frankly, it was too much to ask.

“I brought the sapir tea you seemed to enjoy last time.” he said hesitantly, at which Luke sighed, shutting the door.

His face was a worn and haggard thing, bearded in a way that made him look older than he was. He must have been in terrible pain. Obi-Wan gathered his courage, and said again- “And I brought some _Tiingilar_ from Mandalore _._ There’s no need to tell me it’s too spicy- I know for a fact how much you like it, and don’t even think of refusing. I’ve seen Kaminoans that look more well-fed than you.”

“Look at you- look at how you bothered to remember, and how you still care for my well-being though you hardly know me in this life. I don’t deserve you, or any of this, for that matter.”

Obi-Wan blinked twice or thrice, unable to bring himself to comfort this- _this rash, reckless, uncivilised-_

‘Please. Please, just… don’t. We have all suffered enough.” he said softly. Luke took one look and understood, waving the door to their sitting room open and ushering him in.

“So, what would bring the esteemed Duke of Mandalore to mine humble abode?” he said, feigning good cheer. Obi-Wan played along.

“Duke Consort.” he corrected with a huff. “Satine does all the work as I’m still not quite brave enough for politics.”

“Hmm.” he muttered in response, flopping unceremoniously to a recliner as if a marionette whose strings had been cut. “How is Satine, these days? Still holding out against Dooku?”

 _“Tyranus.”_ Obi-Wan corrected almost immediately.

“Oh.” Luke uttered softly, recalling that Dooku had in fact been very close to Obi-Wan, reaching out to him after Luke had himself killed Sidious. As they found out later, it was all a ploy to get him to join his side. Obi-Wan had thence forsworn his grandmaster’s name. “I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault. It’s his. The monster that sits upon the Imperial Throne is nothing of the man Jedi Master Dooku was before him.”

Luke only looked down, eyeing his feet. The Force sang of sadness and ashes, wrapped in an eternal current of melancholy.

“I- well, it seems I forgot to answer. Satine’s doing fine, as always. She remains ever the blazing inferno of justice and fair treatment that she’s always been.” said Obi-Wan, allowing himself a little chuckle at the thought of his wife.

“I’m glad you have found happiness, Ben. Force knows you deserve it.” Luke said, still looking at the floor.

“What about Anakin? How’s he doing, and how’s Padmé? I would ask them myself, but I, ah…”

Luke shook his head. “Yes, father can be like that. Mum- well, she is coping as well as she always does. She’s anxious for news about C’baoth and his ‘Jedi Council’ of traitors, and how the real Jedi are faring. I hear Master Windu’s causing quite the stir.”

“Oh, that he is.” said Obi-Wan, sipping his tea. Luke was watching him do so, and after he was done, he almost mechanically sipped his own in an exact imitation.

“What about C’baoth, then? Is he still hunting you?”

“Not quite. Him and his new Jedi Order are busy plotting the rise of Force Supremacy, or is that what it was called. It is that bogus ideology of theirs that Force-sensitives are inherently superior- and it’s a fascist idea if I’ve ever seen one.”

“I’d imagine they have the might of Tyranus’ empire behind them?”

Obi-Wan chuckled. “I think His Imperial Majesty of Serenno has proven himself to not be such a fool. I believe my old grandmaster indulges their whims to an extent, to keep his lapdogs drooling by his side… but I am sure he does not lend any merit to his idea sin the slightest. Whatever C’baoth may think and whatever influence he may wield, he and his sad excuses for ‘Jedi’ are merely lackeys of Tyranus.”

“I see.” said Luke. In this moment, when his mental shields had been cast down by years of grief, Obi-Wan could see right through him- and the sight to this greatest of Jedi Masters reduced to… this spectacle of grief and flagellation-

Force, the man was infuriating. Obi-Wan had come expecting to see the same fire, the same spirit that had killed Sidious- why, even if Luke wished to fight him, he would gladly do so- anything to see _this husk_ restored to what he should be!

And he knew what he would need to do. He would need to forgive Luke, and Luke would need to admit it. Though Obi-Wan would hardly think he mattered, it was clear that he did- especially in the way Luke insisted on calling him ‘Ben’, a name that did not belong to him.

So be it- he would forgive this man, this time-travelling son of Skywalker who had slain Darth Sidiious and paved the way for Emperor Tyranus and the Serennian Empire. And for that, Obi-Wan needed his questions answered.

“Look, I’ve had enough, and I suspect you have, too. I will admit I’ve never truly been one to be direct, but there’s no use prevaricating. I have things to say, as do you. With this… falsity of a conversation, we’re getting nowhere.”

He stood up from his seat, putting his Sapir tea to the side. Luke looked up mournfully from the _Tiingilar_ he had barely touched, as Obi-Wan forcibly wrenched it away and held the Jedi Master’s gaze.

In the Force, he felt a flare of panic, a powerful reflection of protectiveness. He thought he could hear footsteps thundering in the distance.

 _“Father, please!”_ blared the command in the Force, and Obi-Wan knew that wherever he was, Anakin had halted. _“Please. I need to do this. He needs to know.”_

It was part-plea, part-command, and reminded him of the sheer extent of the power and mastery of the broken and grieving man in front of him.

The quake of power in the air subsided, and Luke’s shoulders sagged.

“You first. You’ve earned that right, at least.”

Here Obi-Wan stood, and here he would ask him the question that fathered all questions for these past few years.

_“Why? Why did you do it? You- you’re a Jedi. Yoda’s padawan- even he could feel the force bond. And if Yoda truly taught you, you’d know that violence is not the answer.”_

The tide of grief that was unleashed in the Force threatened to drown Obi-Wan- but Luke himself released a bitter chuckle.

“I was both Yoda’s padawan and yours, Ben. I was yours too. I failed you.”

And before he knew what he was doing, Obi-Wan had taken the man by the shoulders and shaken him thrice.

“Then no padawan of mine will wallow in grief while I still live!” he shouted, to a somewhat shocked expression. “What happened? Who did this to you, that you would return and kill Sidious?”

“You did, Ben. You did.” said Luke, and Obi-Wan’s horror was realised.

“Tell me, Luke. Tell me what I did to you. I-I don’t know if I can make it right, but…”

“No! No, Ben, no! You never hurt me!” Luke said all of a sudden, with a fervour that belied him. “You… there was an empire last time as well, as I’ve told you. Sidious was behind it. I- I saw you sacrifice yourself to my father- he was called Darth Vader, then, and Sidious had taken him as his apprentice.”

“ _Force.”_ said Obi-Wan, his head reeling. He moved away to sit on a chair, to gain control of his thoughts, when he felt all become clear. All pain was being siphoned away, his thought sharper than ever-

And that threw him back to his senses.

“By the _Ka’ra_ and every Mand’alor that ever lived, if you dare drain your own Force power to steady my mind and siphon away my pain again, Luke…” he shouted rather violently, shocking Luke enough to stop him at it.

“Now. Sit down again. I promise you, I won’t get hurt. And if I do, I certainly shan’t need you coming to the rescue.”

“Oh. Er- al-alright, I suppose.” said Luke, seeming all of a chastised young padawan in place of the legendary Master.

“Well- you know what happened. We won, of course. My father died at the Death Star, and I founded a new Jedi Order- but Sidious had taken my family form me, though I had started a new one. Han, Leia- I’ve told you about them, haven’t I- they seemed all in good cheer, but the war had taken away too much. So when I finally attained enough mastery to become a Shaman of the Whills- I- I thought I could take away that pain. Rebuild this broken galaxy, give everyone a new chance.” Luke hung his head.

“How utterly wrong I was.”

“ _You poor fool.”_ said Obi-Wan. _“You poor, poor fool.”_

“As you see, I… well, I hadn’t done my research. I knew nothing about who Darth Tyranus had been, and knew only superficially about Count Dooku. Frankly, I dismissed him as a threat. I didn’t know the full extent of his involvement behind the Clone Wars.”

Obi-Wan could only shake his head.

For all his mastery, he was clearly still young then.

“You had known about Darth Maul, hadn’t you? You wouldn’t have intervened and killed him on Naboo back then if you hadn’t.”

Luke shook his head.

“Frankly, I didn’t, Obi-Wan. It was a few hours after I’d returned. I’d sensed my father’s presence on the planet- as well as yours. When I reached it and began to search for you, the battle had begun. When I reached the reactor room- well, your master was dead.”

And at once, Obi-Wan understood.

It had been wrong of them, to think of him as some great saviour, some gift of the Force. He was just as confused as the rest of them.

“You… we all thought you a great Master of the Force. In truth… all you saw was a dying Jedi Master and his desperate padawan dangling from a reactor shaft, didn’t you? And so you choked and impaled Darth Maul, all to save me- and that too an incarnation of me you’d never known.”

Luke nodded his head.

“As you said, I was a fool.”

Obi-Wan hugged him.

“Maste-“ Luke muttered, but Obi-Wan muffled it against his shoulder.

“We should have helped you, Luke! The Jedi should have helped you. Damnable Skywalkers and their stoicism- but we would have, if only you’d told us. You didn’t have to accept your incarceration after you killed Palpatine as he came to ‘visit’ us after his election victory. You didn’t have to suffer in silence. Why, force-damn you, why did you?”

“Is… isn’t that what a Jedi is supposed to do?” Luke said softly, at which Obi-Wan shook his head.

“Damn you, you fool! And damn whoever told you that a Jedi should be like that- should be like me. Yes, I know. I would have done that, too. You learned the art of idiotic self-sacrifice from me, didn’t you?”

Luke gave a shaky little laugh, pushing Obi-Wan’s arms away, although he did lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Well, we’re still the perfect Master-Padawan pair then, aren’t we? Both obsessive self-sacrificing idiots.”

Obi-Wan gently guided Luke back to his chair, and then sat down on his own.

“Well, thank you for telling me, at least. If you’re worried about whether or not I forgive you- don’t be. There’s nothing to forgive.”

“How could you just say that? Palpatine’s empire was a nightmare in bureaucracy, plagued by inefficiency and kept on tenterhooks by the man’s paranoia- by all accounts, Dooku’s is practically invincible in comparison!”

“Reversing the clones’ allegiances to serve his own whims was a masterstroke, I must say, as was employing both C’baoth and Thrawn.” Obi-Wan said, with a slight frown.

“Don’t you see? I should warned you all about them! They were both old enemies of mine from last time…”

“I don’t truthfully see any way by which we could have predicted how devastating Thrawn with Clone Troopers under his command would be- and that Dooku would place such a level of absolute trust in him where Palpatine never did. Besides, I see you’ve inherited your father’s tendency to blame everything on yourself. Dooku, for all that he lacks in power compared to Palpatine, is a master administrator, and his order is admired by all, what with this elegant nobleman at its head. He is to blame, Luke. Not you.”

“But- but there’s no way it can be toppled now. It was my actions that put him on the throne! I- I cost the galaxy its freedom, its hope…”

“Oh, don’t be so sure, my very foolish padawan.” Obi-Wan chided, with the beginnings of a smile. “It’s only a rumour, but I’ve heard that Duchess Satine Kryze-Kenobi of Mandalore is organising a meeting on the sly with Alliance Leader Mace Windu. Rather juicy, I must say- they even say that the meeting was facilitated by the Mandalorian Duke Consort… Obi-something, his name must’ve been...”

The tiny smile on Luke’s face was worth the radiance of a billion stars.

“Don’t be late.” said Obi-Wan with a smile of his own, rising to his feet and walking away.

Luke was silent for a number of moments, before rising himself.

“Do be so kind as to not hold me to that, Duke Kenobi. One might often find oneself delayed if one is to haul along a certain very cantankerous old troll as a guest.”

After all this time- after all these hardships- Luke Skywalker still found a way to strike him dumb. _Damn you, Padawan mine._

“Master Yoda?! Good luck with that. The reason for his exile is that he blames himself for all this- he blames himself for Dooku’s fall, and for not ‘teaching you correctly’ or something when he hasn’t even done that yet, not in this timeline.”

“Oh, but I’ll find a way, Ben. It’s the least I can do.” said Luke, holding open the door.

As he walked regally away from the estate, Obi-Wan found himself in possession of something he hadn’t had in a very long time.

_A New Hope._

**Author's Note:**

> "Resurgetur ex Favilla"- One shall rise from the ashes
> 
> For non-Thrawnists, Jorus C'baoth was an insane Jedi Master from the Thrawn novels. He was quite the interesting character, as Anakin rather looked up to him, while he was secretly quite the fascist within.
> 
> If the premise intrigues you in any way, feel free to ask in the comments as to how exactly this disaster came to be. I do rather enjoy blabbering away about my synopses.


End file.
